


Learning Curves

by unprofessionalbard



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: the twins Learn Some Spells™, this should probably be G but i cannot stop swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2019-03-12 06:19:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13541523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unprofessionalbard/pseuds/unprofessionalbard
Summary: Taako and Lup are self-taught wizards. Self-taught most things, really. That's how it has to be, or else they'd never learn anything.





	Learning Curves

**Author's Note:**

> written for day three of twinsweek (childhood). i'm making a habit of stretching the prompts so they're teenagers in the last bit but its fine.

Lup is the first one of them to actually cast a spell. 

Not because Taako’s a worse wizard, but because he spends his time pouring over spellbooks, an insistence that if he calls himself the best (which he is going to, because it’s Taako) then he better damn well be the best, and he better know how to cast the spell perfectly. Lup doesn’t have that kind of patience. Taako is also pretty insistent that if Lup makes a fool of herself, she won't ever live it down, although Lup has just been countering him with pointing out that if it doesn't, she'll have done a spell first. 

Taako is apparently willing to let her have that victory. 

He's across from her when she tries, about ten feet away on the ground, spellbook open on his lap. They’d be lying if they said they totally understood the consequences for all of these, but they did know that setting things on fire either inside or with flammable things around was probably not the best idea, so they’d found a decently big patch of dirt and gotten ready. 

Lup’s hands are shaking. It’s just the two of them, and it shouldn’t be a big deal, but she can’t shake the nerves. 

She breathes in and stretches her arms out, palms flat towards Taako— there’s a verbal component to this spell isn’t there— damnit, is she supposed to say something specific—

“Your thumbs have to be touching,” calls Taako, and Lup’s look of concentration shatters as she shoots Taako an irritated huff and snaps at him.

“I _know that—_ "

Fire erupts from her palms. She gasps as the sheet of flame ripples outward, drying mud and scorching earth as it went, almost too fast to track. 

Taako yelps, trying to roll out of range before it reaches him, tossing both the spellbook and the neat hat he found last week as far away as possible while he does so before tumbling right back to the ground. 

And then it’s gone. Lup drops her hands, staring at them a second before Taako groans and she rushes over to him.

He’s still sprawled on the ground, but he pushes himself up until he’s sitting with his right hand, looking at his left with a grimace; the skin is bright red, but thankfully not blistered or peeling. The air carries a smell suspicious enough for him to pull the end of his braid over his shoulder, and sure enough, a chunk of the end has been burned off, making it at least a few inches shorter. 

“Taako? Are you okay?” 

Taako looks up at Lup, and despite the burn and the singed hair, his eyes shine. 

“That was sick as fuck,” he says, and Lup laughs.

“Come on. Let’s find some cold water for your hand.”

Taako’s first time casting a spell is much less planned. The adults (well, they’re humans, so in their years, Taako and Lup probably aren’t actually that much younger than them, and they’re probably even older than a few of them) they’re tagging along with don’t give two shits what they do in their downtime, as long as they’re there to cook when they’re supposed to be. So they’re off exploring. There’s a ravine just outside of the village, maybe thirty feet deep. 

Maybe they’re a little close to the edge.

Lup has her back turned to the ravine and she’s cracking a joke that makes Taako double over in laughter. She does a big exaggerated curtsy and crosses her left foot behind her right to do it. Its sends pebbles tumbling over the edge, but she ignores them, stepping back to uncross her legs.

Her foot lands on a loose rock and there’s half a second where she and Taako both realize she won’t be able to regain her footing in time. Taako’s laughter turns to a scream and he throws his hands out but he’s much too far away to catch her now. And then she’s tumbling backward and she’s yelling and she’s squeezing her eyes shut and she’s too afraid to think about hitting the ground— 

And then she doesn’t hit the ground. At least, not when she’s sure she should. Lup opens her eyes and sees Taako above her, on his hands and knees leaning over the edge. He’s growing distant but not anywhere close to the speed he should be. Lup twists her body so that she’s upright and looks down at the ground, approaching at a slow speed. There’s the sound of gravel crunching above her and she looks up again just in time to see Taako swing himself over the edge too. 

She’s about to yell, but he’s falling at the same rate she is— lazily, more floating than falling. 

Lup lands on the ground, and moments later, her brother lands too, and she turns to him, grin wide. 

“Taako, that was fucking awes—”

Taako collides with her before she can finish, throwing his hands around her and squeezing her into the tightest hug he can. They’re the same height, but the way Taako curls into her makes him feel smaller, somehow. “Don’t you ever fucking do that again.”

“It wasn’t that high. I would’ve been fine,” she jokes, but she's shaking when she hugs him back.

The first time anyone actually notices they know magic, they’re well into their teenage years. It’s some quick odd job at a small town restaurant— they were understaffed for a big event and Taako and Lup could cook and didn’t mind only having a short term job. Easier, actually. Taako and Lup were quick to accept the job. 

Well, Taako was. Lup wouldn’t stop asking if the chef who interviewed them had anything to with that choice until Taako threatened to magic missile her, which unfortunately meant Lup won that one (he was cute, okay, what, is Taako not allowed to have eyes now?).

The kitchen is a rush, as kitchens always are. Taako and Lup are naturals and quick learners, although their tendency to talk in incomplete sentences and communicate nonverbally makes it hard for them to do tasks with anyone but each other. Still, they keep to themselves and do their work. 

Unlike about half the staff, who acts like they’d rather be anywhere also. And really, neither of the twins can blame them for that— the pay certainly isn’t enough to keep anyone around. Lup wonders what the turnover rate is for staff here, but decides it’s probably better to wait until they have paychecks to ask. 

“Sharadin! What is this?” 

Taako and Lup look up from their work (Taako maybe a little quicker, and he shoots a dirty look at Lup when she gives him a sly grin for it) at the yelling from one of the chefs, a tiefling named Charity who is currently sorting through a mass of vegetables. 

“What’s what?” A half elf woman sticks her head around the corner, looking not nearly as stressed as Charity’s expression seems to call for. 

“Why do we have celery instead of green onions?” 

“We were supposed to get green onions?” 

“What do you mean we were— who placed this order?”

Sharadin shrugs, and exchanges an eyeroll with the twins when Charity turns his back. Or rather, exchanges one with Lup, as Taako’s left his seat and wandered over to the other side of the table. 

“Can I see that?” 

Charity turns spins back around to face Taako and blinks at him, jarred out of his thoughts. Taako internally curses him out for making being confused look good, and also curses out himself for even having a crush. This is so stupid.

“What?” 

“The celery. Can I see it?”

Charity raises his eyebrows, but passes the stalk of celery over anyway, and it’s not like Taako cares what Charity thinks of him, really, because he doesn’t care what anyone thinks of him, but something about Charity’s gaze on him makes him hope this works. He’s got a reputation. Or he doesn’t, but he’s working on it, and you don’t get a reputation by fucking up and making a fool of yourself in front of cute chefs. 

(He tells himself to pull it the fuck together. Charity’s opinion doesn’t matter more because he’s cute. And besides, Charity is much older than him. He thinks. Relatively. Tiefling ages, like the ages of pretty much anyone who is not an elf, seem meaningless, but he’s almost sure Charity is an adult at least. So he knows Charity wouldn’t actually be interested in him, nor is Taako going to do anything except admire from a distance, but that doesn’t mean he has to make himself look like an idiot in front of him.)

“You need green onions right?”

Charity nods and Taako lets out a quick breath, placing the stalk of celery down on the table and putting both his hands over it, hovering an inch or so above it. 

It’s not like he hasn’t done this before. He just hasn’t done this for any meals but their own, or in front of anybody but Lup.

Under his hands, the celery starts to shift shape— Taako hopes the flourish he does with his hands is hiding how they shake. He is maybe being a little showier than he’d normally be if it were just Lup, but sue him, he’s got an audience. 

Then, quick as he started, the celery is gone, replaced with regular old green onions. Taako breaks into a grin, looking up at Charity. He’s gone back to blinking, but when he looks up at Taako, it’s with a little more admiration than before.

“Where’d you learn that?”

Taako’s sense of pride flares. “I taught myself.” Lup clears her throat behind him. “Also Lup helped a bit.” 

Charity’s gaze shifts over to Lup, and he points at the green onions. “Can you do that?”

“Not my specialty,” says Lup, “Taako’s your man for transmutation. I’m a ‘set things on fire’ kind of girl.” She smiles and extends her hands, palm up, and a small flame ignites itself. She’d normally do something a bit more showy, but they’re inside a busy kitchen still. Charity looks impressed all the same. 

“Can you cook with that?”

“Not with this spell,” says Lup, and runs her other hand through the flame. “No heat. It’s just for light. But I can with others.”

Charity looks between the newly transmutated onions and Lup’s hand, watching as she makes a fist and puts it out, before looking at Taako, eyebrows raised, gold eyes smiling. 

“You guys are really talented.” 

Taako grins, turning to look at Lup for a moment— she takes the opportunity to wink, but he lets it pass this one time and just hopes Charity doesn’t notice or at least won’t comment— before turning back to him. This is probably an appropriate time for modesty, but fuck it, he's proud of himself, and he's proud of his sister, and they don't work on spells to downplay the fact that they know magic. 

“Trust me, my dude, we know.”

**Author's Note:**

> all of those spells except the celery one are real spells i had to look up. i didn't actually check if the last one lup uses was a first level. also i wanted 2 have taako get out of the way of lup's first spell (burning hands) but u take half damage on a successful dex save so rip taako. 
> 
> also i just really like looking at dnd spells and wasted so much TIME doing that lmao
> 
> my tumblr is @crewmanjeeter and i would just embed a link but ao3 hates me 2nite and most nights actually anyway thank you for reading!!


End file.
